Agribusiness consolidation is the theme of the week.
From Mike Leonard’s article on Bloomberg Law:
Antitrust litigation against the country’s top peanut shelling companies has concluded after a federal judge in Virginia approved a $45 million settlement between an Archer Daniels Midland Co. subsidiary and the farmers leading the class action.
Judge Raymond A. Jackson signed off late Tuesday on the agreement with ADM unit Golden Peanut Co., nearly four months after giving his blessing to a $50 million deal letting Birdsong Corp. out of the case and a $7.75 million settlement with an Olam International Ltd. affiliate.
“Adjudication of plaintiffs’ claims has already proven costly,” and “future appeals of any jury outcome are not only possible, but likely given the amount of money at stake,” Jackson wrote. “Any further litigation of this case would be lengthy, complex, and expensive, making settlement favorable to the class.”
The ruling came one day after a final fairness hearing July 26, at which the judge indicated he would approve the deal and take “under advisement” a bid by class counsel for fees totaling one-third of the $102.75 million settlement fund.
Jackson, who awarded $1.9 million in expenses to class counsel in April, didn’t rule on the fee request in his order Tuesday.
The lawsuit, filed in 2019, accuses the peanut shellers of doctoring inventory numbers “to create the false impression of an oversupplied market,” then offering artificially low prices that forced small growers to borrow ruinously against their farm equity.
Anyone notice that lawyers want one-third of the total settlement?